There’s No Need to Hurry

There’s No Need to Hurry
By Al Behel

The late evangelist, D. L. Moody, tells of a preacher who was preparing a sermon on the
urgency of receiving Christ when he fell asleep in his chair. The preacher had a strange
dream in which he heard a group of demons discussing how to devise a scheme to lead
people into hell.
One of the evil spirits said, “Let’s tell people that the Bible is not the word of God and
that it cannot be trusted.” Other spirits spoke up and said that isn’t enough to persuade
men. Another demon said, “Well, let’s tell them that God doesn’t exist, that Jesus was
only a man, and that there is no heaven or hell.” The other spirits rejected that idea as
well. Finally, a third demon said, “Let’s tell them that there is a God, a Savior, a heaven
and hell. But let’s assure them that they do not need to hurry, because they have all the
time in the world to be saved. Let’s encourage them to delay their decision to serve
God.”
Satan is the master of deceit. He doesn’t care if we believe in God because he also
believes in God. He doesn’t care if we accept that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
He was there and witnessed the entire crucifixion. He doesn’t care if we believe that
the Bible is God’s infallible Word. He knows Scripture and knows that God doesn’t lie.
He isn’t even concerned if we believe that the church is the body of Christ.
What Satan wants is for us to put God off. To tell God that we will serve Him when we
have time, or get the kids through school, or finish out other commitments. He wants
us to believe that there is no rush to be in a hurry. Sure, he would be delighted if we
just denounced God completely, but he knows historically that approach has limited
effectiveness.
Time is God’s gift to us. Each day is an “extension” of life granted by our heavenly
Father. Each day He longs for us to fill each moment in deep fellowship with Him, in
sharing His love, His grace, and His message of redemption with a dying world. God
wants our hearts without diversion, without distraction, without reservation.
The demon’s in the preacher’s dream were correct. Tell the world that there is no rush.
Tell believers that they will have time to serve God…later. That is Satan’s deceptive and
fatal message.

By Al Behel